As a fan...I would've preferred to be facing Butler in the E-8 as Horford and Noah could produce some interesting challenges for my Ducks... It's "Put up or Shut up" time now... You've got to play against the best and beat the best to advance from here on out... May the best/most deserving team win on Sunday... GO DUCKS!!!
He's back Congrats on the Ducks' run man, TaJuan Porter looked like a pocket-sized JJ Redick out there last night. What did the Ducks shoot, like 12 of 20 on 3's? I love Leunen when he's got that outside shot falling, too - he's so versatile. The thing I'm looking for is Bryce Taylor in this Florida game. He seems a bit streaky, but he's due for another 20 point game. I think he'll pose an interesting matchup problem for UF. Who does Brewer man up on, Hairston or Taylor? Oregon has the big guards who I think could really upset the Gators, who aside from Brewer lack height in the backcourt. Dribble penetration could be a bit of a problem, with all the guys Oregon can throw out there on the perimeter. I think this will be a tremendous matchup, and one I've been hoping to see since the brackets were released. There aren't many teams that I think match up even close to as well as the Ducks do against Florida. Should be a good one...
I'm for the Ducks. I like Brooks, and that kid Porter is just sorching. I anticipate a hot contest between Oregon and Florida.
I am so nervous about this game. Gators HAVE to get out to a strong start if they want to make the Final 4, that is something they have not done the last 3 games. Not only that, but Noah/Horford/Richard and possibly Speights/Werner will have to step up and guard the outside guys. Oregon needs to continue to spread the floor and have Brooks and the others use their speed advantage without a big to man the middle. If the Florida team taht won the SEC tournament shows up, we should cover the spread. If the Florida team that has showed up the last 3 games shows up then Oregon is a sure-fire pick with the spread. Green is the key for the Gators today. He has to protect the ball throughout the game and not take bad shots. If he stays hot then it will be very hard to stop the Gators. We have to establish the inside early in this game and that will open up Humphrey and Green and Brewer for open 3's. We also need to run Humphrey around several picks so he can get some looks. He is only 1 3 away from tying the school record and 2 away from breaking the school record for 3's in a career. Horford/Noah has proven in the 3 tournament games that they can guard the outside shot, while being fast enough to get back in case of penetration, so don't be surprised to see either of them on Brooks and Porter at times in this game. I am anticipating a similar game to the last 2 for the Gators. Oregon starts out hot jumps out to a 15-9 lead(or something similar), then adrenaline wears down a little and then Gators come back to be within 3-5 at halftime and the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half is just trading buckets then the Gator bigs wear Oregon down and eventually pull away by making FT's and win by 6-7.
I'll be honest with you guys. I felt that the Gators played one of their worst games of the season against Oregon and it's amazing that we were able to beat one of the best teams in the nation. Humphrey/Green played amazing, but no one else were. (Sure Noah got the stats, but I didnt' think he really played that good) Gators really need to play a complete game, we still haven't yet this entire tournament. We were a Swiss cheese defense(Which is why there was a huge disparity in fouls), we shot 65% from the line, we turned it over 18 times, and Oregon just flat out played more physical then we did. I was amazed at how soft our bigs played. Gators better get everything going again if they want to win it all again.
